Pete Ashby

A bit of an update regarding work on the scuttle in the last set of photos I posted I'd started to repair the RH side screen recess after a couple of false starts it's now complete. originally the whole panel was stamped out in one hit probably hot and by a break press. As I don't have such luxuries I ended up making the repair patch out of 4 separate pieces welded together and then ground to shape. It looks a fairly simple repair however the indented pressing has to curve upwards and also lay back following the contour of the scuttle to get an idea how it all worked I made a pattern out of some very thin steel cut out of a biscuit tin it was thin enough, 0.8mm to let me to shape it easily but stiff enough the hold the form once made So this is how it looked when I started this section That's what is going on here Here is the first section in place, welds ground down and awaiting the addition of the curved section, the trial pattern is on the scuttle The finished 18 gauge section welded in and ground back, some lead work will finish this off after blast cleaning Next job is to tackle the the vent and drain............ some serious tea drinking needed here I think Pete

I fairly certain it's a 43 pattern cab because these were a modified front end construction being wider to take four men in the cab. A number of these trucks were taken out of service and refitted with GS bodies after the concept of transported A/T guns was went out of fashion in favor of the 17pdr trailed gun, the Bofors mounted variants continued in service however. Pete

I take the opposite view I don't think of it as depressing, I consider it as a part of my rational for spending so much time and money doing what I do. Without wishing to get too heavy about it all for me my vehicles have never been just diversions or trophies to show off, to me they represent a three dimensional tangible piece of world history that had a profound effect on people who lived through the period and shaped the world that exists today. I do agree with you that we are merely custodians of our vehicles not least because no one person can own history, I also believe with the custodianship comes a certain responsibility particularly as the generation who's history the vehicles represent have now all but passed, it's are turn now. Will there be people to continue after us ? a few perhaps, but here I agree with you in that what I find depressing is how the quickly the world forgets the hard and painful lessons learnt in the head long rush to a bright new future. A much wiser man than me once said 'when humanity forgets it's history it is doomed to repeat the same mistakes'. Pete

Excellent photos and very interesting introduction, my Father's CO in the REME was Maj Hugh Macniven an ex Anglo American Oil company Mechanical engineer he took command of the mobile Field Workshop in North Africa and commanded the unit in Sicily and Italy leaving in the Autumn of 1944 when he was posted back to the oil fields in Iraq. Pete

I think the truck going into the water trough is a No 43 cab Chevrolet or Ford Gun Portee for the 6lb A/T gun the screen could be folded flat to enable the gun to go into action forward. Having said all that the rear body doesn't look right it shouls be a 7H1 body which was basically a flat platform with tubular hood frame and I can see a tail gate and full sides, perhaps re bodied as GS at some point by local workshops?? Pete Additional: The 43 cab was also used for Bofors gun mounts only on Fords I think designated as F60B's.

Congratulations on a wonderful restoration Pete

Fortress Head Quarters Gibraltar Garrison Pete

I think there are two possibilities for the location of of the photo the Div sign is for the 2nd Div and by the style of uniform worn by the chap in the photo I'd suggest it's tropical kit either in Burma 1944, or Malaya at the end of 1945. There is one other possibility as 5th Brigade group of this Div went on Army of occupation duties in Japan

There you go then a genuine Pass plate well done a very rare item indeed. This side will have the original vehicle colour under the red paint and PASS will be either white if the base colour is G3 or black if it's light Stone. Pete

Interesting photos suggest you upload them into a separate thread in British Vehicles section with an appropriate title . The Unit plate is is also very interesting not least for its genuine authenticity . I think your correct with 10 Corps this is the early design I believe white disc and white bar on red background, later it could be found as the same design but on a green background, I'd be intrested to know if there anything on the reverse side ? as it appears to be a pass plate, note the hole for a split pin top center to keep the plate from jumping out of the carrier bracket. As to the 2719 number I can't find a reference to it the nearest is a group of numbers issued to RAOC Forward Ammo sections in the 2700 range. These were GHQ Middle East Forces numbers so it is possible that the 2719 number was also part of this number allocation although it's unusual being displayed on a plate at Corps level ( the Corps sign ie disc and bar and not on Black later to become Blue Red Blue flash of the RAOC) Pete

It could be a Dodge D15 Kevin

Pleased to be of help Kevin I always think there's no point in having information if it's not shared

OK Kevin it looks like Wally is right about the no hand signals I've photo shopped your photo to bring out more detail and below the hand is written R H DRIVE ! The white bar under the 60 denotes GHQ troops and for MEF this could be Motor Battalion the Camel we have already discussed The 35 in a circle is a max speed limit sign The truck reg number is Z457394 this is a Ford WoT2 15cwt GS on contract V4433 Pete

The Camel was GHQ Middle East, brown or yellow camel on a black background the 60 will relate to the specific unit that the truck belonged to, I can't say Iv'e seen any reference to the hand marking though Pete

I would suggest you try the independent book sellers I have done this on numerous occasions for out of print books. Put the title into google with the ISBN number and mark for sale and you'll get a spread of realistic prices, I did this only last week for a book that on Amazon was advertised at £60, when printed it was £38, I bought a brand new unused copy from an online independent seller for £14.50 post paid. Pete

I think Rob the lighting in the photo has made that inner panel appear worse than it actually was, the problem here was not from direct water ingress it was more a result of 77 years of atmospheric corrosion so the rust treatment to pacify and seal the surface did the job followed by a squirt of Zn rich primer from the spray gun. I'm not familiar with Neutrarust 661 there are a number of products on the market these days that all do a similar job some are a bit more expensive than others and some need secondary treatments after application. It's a case of finding something that works for you both in terms of cost and application, all a long way from the days when we used to dab Jenolite onto BL's best offerings more in desperation than in hope Pete

Yes Rob the panel was treated with the following product RUSTBUSTER Fe-123 look the company up here Rust.co.uk I have used this product for many years for this sort of application no connection with the company but I would recommend it it can be applied by brush, roller or diluted and sprayed. Pete

Your not wrong there Pete, here's the start it's not going to be a quick fix fortunately the other side is in good condition so I can use it as a pattern and take my measurements from there. So this is what I started with This is the mates side and what it's supposed to look like next I cut a thin strip of card and folded and bent it to get and idea of where the folds and bends occurred then using the card strip as a guide I made a profile template out of the same gauge steel I was going to use for the repair Next was to make up a rudimentary bending jig using bit's and pieces out of the scrap box (I very rarely throw anything away which probably explains why I can't find anything) Using the vice, bending bars, two steel rods of a suitable diameter, a hammer and several mugs of tea with biscuits I worked up the first piece it's well oversize in width here to take account of all the bends and curves Here everything has been trimmed to size and tack welded in The next part will be the challenge I need to do this bit all over again but also produce the upwards curve as the pressing runs up to meet the door pillar............ I think something stronger than tea is called for while I think about how that can be done,........... there may be tears and almost certainty some bad language . Pete

The first thing I noticed was that those cunning Dodge brothers obviously took a design decision somewhere around the late 1930's to start building truck cabs with built in obsolescence a cunning marketing ploy not adopted by British manufactures until British Leyland hit on the idea with some of their rust bucket designs of the 1960's. Due to the shape of the pressings involved in the design sheet metal on the Dodge is mostly 18 gauge stuff. Panels are then spot welded together without any seam sealing thereby producing the perfect rust trap, any one who has restored any post 1960 cars will get the picture. Just like a 60's motor the more I looked the more I was going to have to cut. The plan is that weld repairs will be ground down but not completely finished, when all the cab work is repaired it will all go to media blasting then welds will be dressed so the odd splodges of paint in the photos on the repair sections are just any rattle can laying around the shop to keep the flash rust at bay. So first job replace a short section of toe plate and floor new section welded in with captive nut on the underside finished in rather a fetching yellow Now lower panel this sits inside the wing when fitted you can see the difference in paint colour The bad stuff cut out now, notice the the pressed inner skin here New piece fitted Now this is getting altogether a bit more scary this is where the top of the scuttle meets the side panel This is the replacement piece being worked up with the internal butt joint and a very slight contour on the sheet starting to be formed Tacked in place job done but this may need some lead work after blasting cleaning Pete

After completing the screen it was a logical step to start looking at the cab or perhaps there's some reverse logic in there somewhere. Any ways it was time to shift things around in the workshop and get ready for some serious cutting, welding and grinding so the Leyland and Dodge got cover sheets over them. The three sections that make up the cab of the Dodge were craned out ready to asses where to start. The scuttle will need the most work so that's where I started. Photos showing the areas marked in chalk that will require attention Pete

I would suggest you look at the Canadian Ford CMP gearbox as a possible option Pete

I use War Paint G3 15% sheen on several projects and thin with a universal cellulose thinner for spraying at not more than 20% by volume straight from the can I usually work at around 10 to 15% at around 25 to 35 psi at the gun. Don't be concerned about the cure time it can take up to 3 months for single pack synthetic enamels to cure fully which ever thinner you use. You have to be careful not to thin to much as the heavy pigments can separate but providing it's stirred well before adding to the gun it works fine, I find by using cellulose the paint coat flashes off faster than using the normal Xylene based thinners. A word of caution here is this has to be compatible with what ever undercoat system you are using if in doubt try a small area first and leave it 24hrs to see what happens. Couple of points you may consider, when ever I get a new 5l batch of paint stir it well then split it down into new 5x 1l cans (cheap off ebay) that way you don't keep putting air back into the main stock and limit the risk of knocking the whole lot on the floor. The other point is I have two sizes of top feed gun a stock standard one for large areas and a small 250ml one for small parts and tight corners it saves on wasted paint if you are only doing small parts Pete

I have a question about paint and thinners, I accidentally mixed some cellulose thinners with the paint but luckily spotted it before I used it, the paint seemed to react with the thinners and after having a bad experience with a high solvent thinners pickling paint a few years ago on another project I didn’t want to take the chance, does anyone know if its ok to use Also is there any advice for setting up a spray gun, I have an old school siphon feed Gun but it was a nightmare to set up, liquid feed adjustment made no difference, fan adjustment was either bullseye or full fan, air pressure turned down, air pressure turned up, absolute pain in the backside!! You will find your new top feed gun a much better piece of kit to use, it maintains a stable fan over a wide range of gun angles.and will use less air to do it. I noticed your comment that the cellulose reacted with the paint when you mixed it I'm curious as to what you saw happen and the important question here is what ratio of thinner to paint direct from the can did you use ? Pete

Now that one is fairly comprehensively denied to the enemy I would say

Many thanks for posting I shall look forward to the next installment. Every time scenes from the retreat and the beach areas appear I am always staggered at the sheer volume of equipment left behind. Pete